Small Talk and Weird Looks
by Howling Armadillo
Summary: A story for those out there wondering what happened between Sun and Blake during the two days she spent away from her team. Takes place during Season 1, Episode 15.
1. Shadows

To most people the statue sitting outside of Beacon Academy was a monument to the things that hunters can achieve. It showed two great warriors, with cloaks and hoods, standing guard against all the evil in the world. A snarling Beowulf, trapped beneath the hunter's heel, represented that evil, and seemed to send a clear message.

The world of humankind will stamp out monsters wherever they may be.

Normally, this would be an encouraging message, but tonight, to Blake Belladonna, it seemed to feel stifling. After all, not long ago she'd been slipping dangerously close towards evil herself. And there were certainly people in this world that would label her a monster if they only knew.

Tonight, it felt like a chance that Blake needed to take. Without her team, without her friends, Blake truly had nothing but a weapon and a name. Those small things were protected as best as could be by one single black ribbon, but right now Blake didn't feel very protected.

Just this once then, Blake decided to strip away her last defense. The ribbon was removed, and her cat ears were free for the first time in months. Blake was left standing, in the middle of her school campus, looking every bit like the Faunus she truly was.

To say she was shocked when she heard a voice speak up from behind her was the very definition of understatement.

"I knew you would look better without the bow."

There weren't many people that Blake expected to encounter after leaving the way she did. With the possible exception of Ruby, everyone she knew would either be asleep or keeping their distance (whether out of respect or indignation).

Somehow though, she was hardly surprised to find the same boy who had winked at her on the street earlier that day. "You knew then." She responded after a moment.

"Well yeah, I mean, it seemed pretty obvious." The boy grinned down at her from the top of one of the many flagpoles lining the walkway to Beacon Academy. "I could tell you were a Faunus the moment I saw you."

"Did you tell anyone?" Blake's eyes flashed as she considered reaching for Gambol Shroud, still firmly secured to her back. After a moment though, she reconsidered. She didn't know who this boy was, or what he was doing here, but his demeanor was far from threatening.

"Relax, I've been dodging those two cops all day. Even if I wanted to tell somebody, which I totally don't by the way, I wouldn't have the chance. I take it it's a secret then." The guy smirked in a way that made it all too clear that he wasn't asking, an expression that reminded Blake of Yang's knowing grin. It was enough to make her feel more at ease, if only slightly.

"I'm sure you've dealt with people enough to know the answer to that question," Blake replied, eying his tail. "You clearly don't care much for discretion." She had to struggle to keep her eyes from straying to other places when she spoke.

"Yeah, I grew up in Vacuo, so dress codes aren't really my thing." The boy replied, grinning cheekily. "As for the tail, no chance of hiding it. It has a mind of its own." His tail seemed to twitch in response.

"That's too bad." Blake frowned in sympathy. Being a Faunus came with its fair share of difficulties, but living your life without ever having a chance to escape from that? Blake wasn't sure she could imagine such a thing.

"Eh, it's not a big deal." The boy responded as he finally jumped down from the flagpole and tumbled to a stop. "Most of the people kinda stopped bugging me about the tail once I got this." he waved a hand to his abs in response. "Don't ask me why though. Anyways, being a Faunus in public isn't really a big deal these days."

Blake turned aside at this, causing the boy to grimace as he made the connection. "…And that's totally why you're standing out here. Good to know I handled that as poorly as possible."

"It's not your fault." Blake shrugged, "It's just… complicated."

There was a prolonged silence between the two as they stood before the statue, neither sure whether to continue.

In the end the boy broke the silence once more.

"Sun."

"What?"

"My name. It's Sun. Sun Wukong." Sun elaborated with a small smile, holding up a hand.

"…Blake Belladonna. Nice to meet you." Blake replied as she shook his hand.

"Yeah, likewise!" Sun grinned down at her. "So, you're a student here, right?"

"That's right. And you're here from Vacuo?"

"Uhh, kinda? I'm actually attending Haven Academy, you know, in Mistral?" Sun shrugged his shoulders, "But I was visiting family when I saw that the people from Shade Academy were going to Vale. I figured, why not come early?"

"Do they even have rooms prepared for Haven students?" Blake asked suspiciously.

"Well, no, actually they don't." Sun replied sheepishly. "Kinda answered the whole: 'why not come to Vale early' question."

"So you don't have a place to stay right now?"

"Yeah... It's not a big deal though; I think they'll have things ready for me by Monday. So until then, I'm just exploring Vale, seeing the sights!" Sun spread his arms wide with a silly grin as he concluded.

Blake cocked an eyebrow at that. "Sounds… exciting."

"Well, I'm making the most of it." Sun said with a shrug. "Hey, maybe, if you wanted, we could meet up? I mean, you're the first person I've really talked to in Vale that isn't a cop, so it, you know, it could be cool. Unless you don't want to! Which would be totally fine, I was just throwing the idea out there, you know?"

Blake cracked the smallest of smiles at Sun's frantic backpedalling. "Maybe. It could be nice."

She was honestly rather surprised at how open to the idea she actually felt. It was certainly a more appealing prospect than spending time with her team at that point. And with how little sleep she was likely to get in the near future she was sure she'd appreciate a distraction.

Sun was far more pleased with the idea though, grinning like a loon at the thought of it. "That's awesome! So, tomorrow then? I mean, it's late enough I'm sure you'll be wanting to head back to bed soon, right?"

Blake hardly needed a moment to reflect. "I'm don't think I'm going to my room tonight. My team and I are… probably not on speaking terms."

"You want to talk about it?"

"Not really. Besides, it's a bit of a long story."

"Hey, like I said, I've got plenty of time."

"You haven't said anything like that." Blake teased.

"Well, it was implied!" Sun replied with a grin.

"Touché."

"So, does Vale have some sort of emergency bunk for people when their teams don't get along?" Sun asked with a smirk, prompting Blake to roll her eyes. "No, huh? Didn't think so. I guess we're both sleeping outside then!"

"You didn't get a hotel?" Blake asked quizzically.

"Nah, I couldn't afford to do that." Sun waved his hand dismissively. "I've got meals to pay for."

"Hmm… Well good luck then?" Blake frowned and started wandering across the courtyard. She really wasn't fond of the idea of seeing her team at that moment. Thinking of what they must have been thinking at that moment… Blake couldn't imagine any sort of pleasant conversation taking place.

"Wait, where are you going?" Sun trailed behind Blake in confusion. "You're just walking out like that?"

"I'm not planning to stand around here all night." Blake replied coolly, "I'm going to find a place to sleep."

"By yourself?" Sun asked, "You sure you'll be alright?"

"I can take care of myself." Blake responded with a frown.

"Oh, no. I don't think so." Sun replied firmly, before noticing Blake glaring in response and swiftly correcting himself. "Wait, I mean, yes, I think you can, I just-hold on." He paused to take a breath before starting again. "Look Blake, I'm sure you can look after yourself, I just don't think you should be alone right now. You still seem pretty upset about whatever happened to make you run out here."

"Sounds like a convenient excuse to me." Blake gave Sun a level stare, but he only blinked in confusion.

"Excuse? Oh! Whoa there, I wasn't trying to creep you out or anything, promise! I'm just worried, you know? Besides, misery loves company, right?"

Blake continued to scrutinize Sun, but from what she could tell he was being nothing but earnest. "Alright, if it'll make you feel better." She finally said with a sigh.

"Hey now, the goal here is to make you feel better, remember? I'm just fine!" Sun said, before eagerly breaking out into a jog. "Now then, I guess we should find a nice tree or something to sleep in? Good thing it's warm this time of year."

Sun ran ahead with his biggest smile yet, still babbling about whatever came to mind, as Blake followed along. She couldn't say she really trusted him, but he seemed harmless enough; certainly not the rapscallion Weiss seemed to think of him.

For now, Blake figured it would be best to play it by ear.


	2. Sunlight

When Blake awoke the next morning it took her a few moments to remember where she was and exactly why she wasn't in her bed back at Beacon. It had been several months since she last woke up outside, after all.

Blake's next surprise of the morning came when she stood up from the base of the tree she'd chosen to sleep beneath, turned around, and got an eyeful of abs. With all that happened, Blake had forgotten that she'd spent the night with some strange Faunus boy named Sun Wukong.

As much as Blake wanted to say she regretted everything though, she had to admit there were worse things to wake up to. Much worse. Over the years she'd dealt with Grimm, racist humans, and even the occasional creep in the White Fang. So far, some sandy haired dork who didn't seem to know how shirt buttons worked was far lower on the list.

Though she did still have to figure out how to wake him up without knocking him out of the tree. He was lying up in the branches, using his tail to hold himself in place. Blake was beginning to see why Sun wouldn't want to hide something so useful.

"Sun?" Blake asked tentatively. "You planning on staying up there all day?"

To her surprise Sun cracked an eye open immediately, grinning down at her. "I'm awake, no worries. Just didn't want to make any noise. Figured you could use the rest."

"What time is it?" Blake looked around in concern, noting that the sun seemed to be much further along than she'd originally thought.

"Just about noon." Sun replied casually as he unraveled his tail and dropped from the tree. "Good thing it's the weekend, huh?"

"What?" Blake blinked in shock, "How could I have slept in so late?"

"Well, you had a pretty rough night, right? Seems pretty natural to me." Sun shrugged his shoulders in response. "Plus, by the time we settled in here it was way past midnight."

"I don't even remember coming here." Blake murmured to herself as she looked around. From what she could see Sun had brought her to a public park.

"Well no wonder! Before you finally went to sleep you were wandering around like a zombie." Sun explained, throwing his arms up for dramatic effect. "Whatever's on your mind, it's clearly messing with your head."

"That's not really any of your business." Blake replied defensively, frowning up at Sun.

"Yeah, I know. That's why I didn't ask about it." Sun shrugged. "I mean, I'm really curious and all, but there is an order to these things."

"An order?" Blake stopped to stare at Sun irritably. "What kind of order would that be?"

"Well for starters, I could use breakfast. Or lunch, whichever." Sun nodded sagely. "You know any good places to eat around here?"

Blake didn't talk much for the rest of that day. Partly because she was still upset about the night before, but also because Sun seemed determined to hold a conversation single handedly from there. After they'd eaten she just wandered the streets and let Sun talk, about his home, his school, his team, and whatever else happened to cross his mind.

She didn't really focus too intensely on what Sun was saying, and honestly probably missed at least half of the conversation, but Sun didn't seem to mind. He just kept rambling about whatever came to mind, latching onto whatever brief responses Blake would make.

After a while it became clear to Blake that he was just talking so he wouldn't ask the questions he knew she didn't want to answer. The curiosity was apparent every time he would fall silent, and after a while Blake found herself replying more often in spite of herself, just to stop those silences from happening.

And after a while, Blake even started talking about her team. She didn't say much, but dropping the name Schnee was more than enough to give Sun an idea of what was happening. It wasn't a name that Faunus tended to forget, after all.

"That makes sense," Sun said when Blake first mentioned her teammate, "The less said about how things are between the Schnee family and the Faunus the better, right? I guess things just boiled over between you two?"

"You could say that." Blake shrugged. "I just couldn't stand hearing her talk about Faunus like that anymore. I mean, yesterday she spent all afternoon calling you a rapscallion!"

"So does that mean in a way you were like, defending my honor?"

"I was just speaking against Faunus prejudice." Blake rolled her eyes. "She was grouping everyone together under… under one name. She acted like all Faunus were the same!"

"Well as far as some Faunus are concerned we are all the same!" Sun snapped a little at that. "There's been a 'them vs us' attitude for years."

The comment was enough to make Blake want to shut herself out again. Just knowing that she'd personally met a lot of the Faunus Sun was complaining about was a point of shame to her.

Hell, forget meeting them, she'd been one of those people herself.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to get worked up like that. Can't do too much to support you if I'm too busy upsetting myself." Sun sheepishly said after a moment.

"It's not your fault."

"I don't know, from the sounds of it I didn't leave the best first impression." Sun joked, "Or did I? Honestly, I can't say I don't kinda like it. Rapscallion…" He threw his arms wide as he drew the word out.

"It does seem to suit you." Blake responded with a half-smile. "Following around some girl you just happened to meet in the middle of the night… It's very suspicious behavior."

"Hey, I'm just looking out for you!" Sun responded with a grin that showed he wasn't as offended as he was acting. "If I was a creep you'd probably have just kicked my ass and walked off ages ago."

Blake didn't reply except to give him another look, but she knew he was right. She still wasn't sure what Sun was really trying to accomplish, but he clearly didn't mean any harm.

"So, looks like it's starting to get late." Sun commented after apparently deciding Blake wasn't going to respond. "Should we start heading back to Beacon?"

"Not just yet." Blake said with a sigh.

"Okay, you really need to talk about this." Sun said bluntly, prompting Blake to glare back at him. "I'm not saying you have to say something to me, I get that we just met. But if this fight you had was so bad that you're seriously considering sleeping outside two nights in a row something is clearly wrong here."

"If I felt like talking about it, I'd be talking about it." Blake snapped back. "This is personal, okay?"

Sun's smile vanished as he stared coldly back. "Look. I'm just giving some advice here, not trying to figure out your life story."

"You've been trying all day!" Blake exclaimed. "All you've done is fish for information, and I'm sick of it!" She stopped suddenly as she looked around and realized she was drawing looks from bystanders, and stormed off. "Ugh, forget it!"

She didn't dare look back until she'd ran several blocks away, but when she did, there was no sign of Sun Wukong. It looked like he got the message.

Blake huffed to herself and looked around. She was near the same park that she'd slept in the night before, so she decided to find a new spot to sleep. She still didn't have much of an appetite after all that had happened.

In the end Blake didn't see the point in being picky, so she just sat down under the first tree she saw and curled her knees up to her chest. It was the second night in a row she was starting off with nothing but a weapon and a name. Only this time she was pretty sure there wouldn't be a random bystander to keep her company.

"Ugh, why did I do that?" Blake muttered. She had done a terrible thing by snapping at Sun like that. He was being nothing but helpful, but she just stewed in her problems until she took them out on the wrong person. And now he was gone.

She couldn't really say she was surprised. Her team hadn't followed her, so why would Sun be any different? As long as she was bottling everything up this was just going to keep happening.

She needed to deal with things properly. She needed to sort her thoughts out and talk to her team.

There was just one thing she needed to do first.

Before Blake could figure things out with her new team, she had to put things to rest with her old one.


	3. Daybreak

In a stark contrast to the previous day, Blake managed to wake up at the crack of dawn. She felt far better than she had the previous day, if nothing else because she had some sort of direction.

Before Blake could face her new friends she had to find out the truth, and that meant finding her old Faunus comrades in the White Fang. This whole mess had started because Blake didn't believe that the group she was once a part of had reduced themselves to petty crime. When she joined the White Fang it was because they stood for something worth fighting for.

On the other hand though, there was a reason she had left. So one way or another, she had to learn the truth. She needed to know if the group she'd been a part of since her childhood had any of the dignity and values she once saw.

There was only one question though… "Where to begin?" Blake muttered.

"I think breakfast is usually a good way to go." A voice rang out, causing Blake to let out a cry in surprise. It only took her a moment to realize she recognized that voice.

"Sun!" Blake exclaimed in shock, finding the boy leaning casually against the opposite side of her tree. "I… I thought…"

"You thought that you lost me? Shook me off?" Sun flashed a smile that started cocky and quickly turned sheepish. "Well you did. I lost track of you after you went around the corner. I can't say I was expecting you to just take off like that."

Blake sighed deeply at that, looking down at the ground. "Sorry. I shouldn't have taken off like that."

"Hey, no worries." Sun said gently. "You were right, I was pushing for info. That… yeah that wasn't cool of me."

"Well, you weren't being nearly as pushy as I made you out to be." Blake admitted. "You know, I really didn't think you'd come back."

"What? You thought I'd ditch you over that?" Sun waved his hands dismissively. "Please, I wouldn't just leave because you were getting upset. Heck, you being upset is the main reason I'm keeping you company, remember?"

"Sun, I-" Blake started to reply, but was abruptly cut off.

"Seriously Blake, it's fine. That's what friends are for, right?" Sun smiled softly, before wandering off. "Anyways, let's get that breakfast before you can tell me about whatever plan you're cooking up."

"I really still don't have much of an appetite…" Blake protested.

"Tea then! You don't strike me as a coffee drinker. I saw a nice looking place not far from here yesterday, just over here." Sun started jogging ahead at that, leaving Blake trailing behind with a grateful smile fighting its way onto her face.

In the end Blake was so lost in thought that she hardly touched her tea, though Sun seemed surprisingly enamored with the drink. Blake found her gaze shifting from her teacup to Sun's, as he held the cup with his tail so casually she could tell it to be a practiced motion.

Unlike before though, Sun was being almost entirely silent. Rather than talking, he was seemingly content to enjoy his drink and stare out over Vale, even getting seats on the second floor balcony of the cafe. Blake wasn't fooled for a moment; she could see his eyes drift over to her every few minutes. At this point she was fairly sure she could guess what was on Sun's mind.

He was waiting.

Sun knew that Blake had some sort of idea what to do from here, and he seemed intent on waiting until she voiced it.

The only problem was that Blake wasn't sure she wanted him to hear her plans.

This wasn't some silly apology scheme Blake was working on after all; she was about to start hunting for the White Fang. It was more than just dangerous; it also would mean needing to tell Sun about things that she hadn't planned on telling anybody.

Blake had to choose between keeping her past a secret and leaving a good friend behind, or coming clean. Neither seemed like good options for her.

So in the end Blake decided she wouldn't focus on what her choices would mean for her. She asked herself something different.

What would her choice mean for Sun?

At this point it was clear that whatever reckless thing she decided to do Sun would tag along, unless she decided to leave him again and act on her own. Last night had proved to her that she could ditch him easily; Sun still didn't know the city nearly as well as she did, after all. He could wander around and get lost in the streets a little, but it wouldn't do him any harm. Beacon made for a very effective landmark, after all.

On the other hand, coming clean with Sun would mean more than just dredging up a past Blake far preferred hidden. It also potentially meant bringing Sun into direct conflict with a group she knew to have an increasingly dark sense of morality. She'd be asking him to put his life on the line for her. And if there was one thing Blake felt sure of, it was that Sun wouldn't hesitate to do so.

Put like that it was hardly a choice at all. Blake couldn't ask Sun to risk his life after everything he'd done for her already. The best thing she could do then, would be to leave him now and pursue the White Fang on her own. All she had to do was jump down from the balcony and run. She'd be around the corner before he realized she was gone if she moved quickly enough.

Any time would do, Sun was barely focused on her at all at this point.

She just had to jump and make a run for it; it was hardly the first time she'd used her skills to escape from a problem.

Just one swift motion…

And she'd be on her own again…

The more Blake thought about it, the more it became clear to her that she didn't want that.

Blake was fed up with leaving people behind. First she'd ditched The White Fang, then Team RWBY, and now she was about to leave Sun behind too. But somehow Blake had a feeling if she abandoned the last friend she had to pursue this it wouldn't be something she could walk away from.

Truthfully, while Blake was far from her peak ability, she knew that Sun had made things far better than they could have been. With how her own insecurities were tearing her apart inside, Sun had managed to help her hold things together, at least to an extent. Over the course of the weekend Sun had become as close a friend to Blake as anyone on her team.

Blake could really use a good friend at the moment.

There was only one choice: Blake had to be honest now, for the first time in years.

"So," she began, causing Sun to pause in surprise.

"You want to know more about me."


End file.
